


Souls Entwined

by Hermit9



Series: Pristine Comes Unclean [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Biting/Marking, Blow Jobs, Dom/sub, Gentle Dom Magnus Bane, Jace is a confused muffin, M/M, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Overstimulation, Porn with Feelings, Praise Kink, Psychic Sex Issues, Sub Alec Lightwood, Sub Drop, Sub Jace Wayland, Under-negotiated Kink, they need a talk about bondaries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:29:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28342440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermit9/pseuds/Hermit9
Summary: A sequel toWhen Edom Remains. It’s the last day before both Jace and Alec have to go back to their lives as Shadowhunters. Magnus has plans to make the most of it.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood/Jace Wayland
Series: Pristine Comes Unclean [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2045902
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	Souls Entwined

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aria_Lerendeair](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria_Lerendeair/gifts).



> With thanks to [AceonIce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOnIce) and [Young Murdered Faery](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Young_Murdered_Faery) for the beta! 
> 
> And thanks to Aria for letting me play in her sandbox! Happy birthday month, my dear!

Jace woke up to warmth and a feeling of being safe and home. He smiled against the stupidly soft fabric of the pillowcase. If anyone had asked him a week ago what his impression of Magnus’ bed was, his answer would probably have been very different. But he couldn’t lie to himself. There was something intoxicating about being surrounded by sandalwood and the clinging grasp of one or both of his lovers.

Lovers. The word was a thrill. Worth all of the secrecy he needed to carry through his day.

“Morning,” he mumbled as he stretched.

“And a good morning to you as well,” Magnus answered. There was something in his tone that could _almost_ have been a warning.

Jace blinked his eyes open, chasing the dry aftermath of sleep. Only to be met with Alec’s eyes, wide open and lust-dilated. His lips were parted and wet as his breath came in short pants. Magnus was plastered behind him, pressed against Alec’s back with one hand on his chest and one hidden by the covers. Magnus was strumming an idle rhythm against Alec’s nipples, matching the roving of nails against the skin of his thigh.

“Don’t stop on my account,” Jace said. Now that he was paying attention he could acknowledge the pinch Magnus gave in response. And the fact that he was hard in a way that had nothing to do with morning wood. He reached down to run a finger along his length, smirking when Alec gasped in echo. 

“No,” Magnus said in a firm tone. 

“No?” Jace echoed, confused. He frowned. Magnus didn’t feel angry and Alec, beneath the lust, felt like amusement and anticipation.

“Alec and I had a wager, you see. Alec said Shadowhunters are light sleepers and that you’d wake up as soon as I—” He let the words trail, ran his hand inside of Alec’s thigh stopping just short of his cock. Alec’s eyes fluttered as he inhaled sharply to stop himself from making a sound. “While I said you were sleep-deprived enough it would take you at least five minutes.”

“How long?”

“Seven,” Magnus’ smile widened as he said it. He looked hungry and dangerous. His glamour was down and it only added to the whole impression.

Jace squirmed. He’d spent his entire life under the yoke of domineering men, from the one he’d known as Michael Wayland to Robert Lightwood and every tutor in between. The tone and the posturing should be the farthest thing from _hot_. His cock twitched, letting its opinions be known loud and clear.

"What… what was the prize?"

"I get to decide how both of you come," Magnus answered with an honest to god lecherous unabashed leer. Jace squirmed again and something flashed on Magnus' face too fast to be read, but his expression immediately softened. "If you don't want to play just tell me to stop, anytime. I _will_ get us waffles."

"No," Jace licked his lips. "I can play."

"Good boy," Magnus said, reverting back to his persona in a flash. The words echoed down Jace's spine with the most delicious shivers. "Alec gets to come on my cock. You, I want to taste."

"How… where do I go?" Jace asked as he tried to puzzle out a position. He caught Alec's smirk and his _wink_ before Magnus answered.

_Oh no._

"You stay right there sweet boy," Magnus confirmed, "hands above the covers. It's not your turn, _yet_."

The words and the _tone_ hit Jace like a full array of shots, warming him from the inside and turning his thoughts to fuzz. He was faintly aware that he was in _so much trouble_. He didn't care. He didn't even care that he didn't care. Jace brought his hands up slowly, curling one arm under his head and laying the other against the sheets where Magnus could see.

"Very good. Just like that. Until I am good and ready for you."

Magnus shifted his focus to Alec. He bent down, leaving trails of kisses from Alec's jaw and down his throat. He bit down on the top of his shoulder, sucking and worrying a mark that could be hidden if Alec wanted to keep it. Or not, if he wanted to feed the rumour mill. Alec shuddered with it, a low soft moan slipping away from him. 

"It's not very fair. Leaving me cold and alone," Jace complained. It wasn't completely true, he wasn't cold. The loft was never cold and the covers held the warmth of the night. But seeing Alec melt under Magnus' touch and not being _allowed_ in rang too close to the raw places in him that handled rejection poorly. _Not_ that he had abandonment issues…

Alec laughed. "You haven't been alone since we were kids." He stretched his neck to invite another mark from Magnus, arching so that his back was plastered against Magnus' chest. 

Only it was Jace's back as well. He could feel the soft warmth of Magnus' skin and the drying wet trail of his mouth against his throat. Magnus pinched his fingers over Alec's nipple and Jace shuddered. He rolled his hips back to press against Magnus' arousal but he met only air. 

"Oh, sweetheart," Magnus crooned at Jace's frustrated huff. "I am just getting started."

Jace gasped as more phantom marks pulsed on his skin, invisible hickeys and light fingernail scratches tracing designs his skin didn’t show. Magnus’ hands moved lower and wrapped around Alec’s cock. It was everything Jace wanted and just on the side of not enough.

“You know, I’m not sure if I regret or am thankful for the parabatai training,” Jace said, licking his lips. 

“Jace… shut up,” Alec hissed. He tried to send one of his patented glowers across the bed, but it lost all of its bite between the sex hair and the sudden _twist_ of Magnus’ wrist. “You’ll be glad for it soon enough.” 

As he spoke Magnus chuckled. His right hand left Alec’s cock to gently pull up his balls, while the long, dextrous, fingers of his left slid between the cheeks of Alec’s ass. The dry tantalizing rub against Jace’s hole made him clench and straighten his back. Not that he could actually get away.

“Is this your first time?” Magnus asked. He stopped moving. His hands hadn’t gone away, but he lessened the pressure a fraction. 

“N— No,” Jace stammered out. It wasn’t. He’d bargained with boundaries and new territories as a means to an end plenty of times. He and Izzy were not so dissimilar in this way. “I’ve just… This part has never been all that great, in the past.”

Alec frowned and reached out to grab Jace’s hand in his own. The contact sent a wave of soothing reassurance through the bond, as Alec ran his thumb over Jace’s knuckles. He looked so concerned, almost sad. Jace shook his head. Only Alec would be _this_ upset about the fact that Jace had collected some bad lays in his past. 

“I’ll make you feel good, I promise,” Magnus said once they’d settled down. 

Jace took a deep breath and made himself relax. He nodded to Magnus. After all he wasn’t powerless here and it was _Alec_ who was really on the receiving end of things. And he trusted both of them not to hurt him. 

There was a flicker of magic. It was a small thing without flashing lights or hand-movement. Jace might not even have noticed it, had he been less keyed up. But there it was, and there Magnus' finger was. Only now there was some slipperiness to the touch. Magnus took his time, spreading the lubricant around in slow gentle circles. 

"That's it, just like that. Relax," Magnus whispered. 

With his right hand he was stroking Alec’s cock in a counterpoint rhythm. It felt weird. Jace realized that his own erection had flagged because of nerves, but Alec’s very much hadn’t. Unlike before, what he was feeling through the bond was out of sync with his own body, though he was playing catch-up as best he could. Magnus twisted his wrist on the way up, swiped his thumb over the head of Alec's cock in a well-practiced move. Alec bucked with it, gasping a needy whine that could have been _Magnus_. The movement of his hips drove him against Magnus’ hand until Magnus relented and bent his finger to push inside, where Alec wanted it.

"You are so beautiful when you get greedy," Magnus said, driving more moans and gasps out of Alec. 

The words echoed around Jace's mind, making him unable to focus on anything but _Alec_. Alec, writhing against Magnus, pale against the crimson red of the sheets and the black of his runes. With his eyes mostly closed, his mouth parted helplessly. Had his lips always been so inviting?

By the angel Jace wanted to kiss him. How had he ever resisted before now?

"One."

Jace blinked up at Magnus, confused. 

"You may have _one_ kiss, since you are being so good for me."

Jace leaned forward to capture Alec's mouth, unwilling to chance Magnus changing his mind. The contact sent magic flying from both of them, a quick flash of light and ozone that was harmlessly absorbed by the loft's ward. Alec surged against him, kissing back just as desperately. 

Every time they kissed it was as if Alec was a man walking through the desert, delirious and parched, and Jace’s kiss was the water bringing him back to life. Even when he kissed Magnus he wasn’t this starved. There were years and decades of _want_ that demanded satisfaction. 

They broke for air and Jace retreated to his side of the bed without having to be told. He could _feel_ Magnus' satisfaction: it soothed him like a warm blanket across his mind and sent shivers down his body from head to toe.

"My beautiful boys, so good for me. You are doing so well," Magnus said. 

The words only added to the shivers in Jace, almost like another layer of touch. They melded with the ghost sensations from Alec and left him craving more.

Alec seemed drunk on Magnus' voice, or perhaps lost in the echoes of Jace being affected so much. Magnus pushed his finger inside of him and ran his hand down his cock with a slightly firmer touch. 

"Ma— Magnus!" Alec panted. "I— I can't. I'm too—"

"Sssshhh," Magnus hummed against the skin of Alec's neck. His hand was gone from Alec's cock but he left just the first joint of his finger in his ass, as both too much and not enough of a tease. "Not yet love. On my cock, remember?"

Alec nodded desperately, hiding his face into the pillow. He gripped Jace’s hand tighter, squeezed almost until the point of pain and then released. Again and again. Jace could feel the rush of the orgasm Alec was fighting. It was like the leading edge of a storm, all lightning and oppressive pressure. Jace reached through the bond and dragged Alec to himself. He shielded him with untouched skin and the deliberate slow ebb of his breathing. 

“Clever boys,” Magnus said as the shaking in Alec slowed and stopped. “You did so well, I am very proud of you. Of both of you."

In. Out. Jace let himself fall into a near meditative state as Alec found his equilibrium. With a shuddering breath and impression of a sigh Alec retreated to his own skin. Jace missed him immediately. It was weird, the longing and homesickness for someone who was right in front of him. 

“Thanks,” he said with a shy smile to Jace. How he could be shy in a moment like this was baffling.

“Back with me?” Magnus asked.

Alec turned to kiss Magnus lightly on the corner of his lips. “Yes, I’m back.”

“Good.”

That was all the warning Magnus gave. There was gentle pressure against his rim then the single finger in Alec’s ass became two. Unlike before, Magnus wasn’t rocking his fingers in and out, nor building any kind of rhythm at all. He pressed against Alecˋs prostate with a terrifying accuracy. 

The sensation made Jace shout in surprise. The deep internal pressure wasn’t something he’d expected, nor the contrast from the ghost of Magnus’ fingers. The slicked slide of them and the way the knuckles felt against his inner walls.

“Need me to stop?” Magnus asked.

“Hell no,” Alec grumbled.

“No,” Jace answered, slower. It wasn’t something his previous experimentation had covered, not with this much skill and intent. The sensation wasn’t _bad_. If anything it was almost near the line of being too good. It sent shocks from deep inside him echoing up to his eyes and down his toes. He rocked his hips into it and frowned as he failed to gain any change in pressure. “Please move?”

“For you, of course.” 

There was a brief moment where Jace almost wanted to take back his request. Because when he moved, Magnus was relentless. Jace tried to hold on to the threshold between him and Alec, to get some distance. But he found it was slipping away from him, melted under the sensory assault. Magnus was worrying the skin of Alec’s neck and shoulders, leaving trails of claiming marks. They throbbed with Jace’s pulse in an increasingly wild dull-ache counterpoint. The combination was pushing towards the edge of his climax, truly _untouched_. 

There was no safety with his parabatai, only more stimulation, nerves on fire and amplified in echo afterimages. Jace whined and clawed at the bond, throwing himself against the walls of Magnus’ mind. The warlock’s defences were too slick — made impenetrable by years of practice and need — leaving no grasp and no purchase. Like water rolling against glass tumbling down and down. Until Magnus was there, catching him, catching Alec. For a moment they floated in webs of blues and purples, outside of their bodies and yet not. Then, very gently, Magnus pushed them back down into their own skins. The separation _hurt_ in the same way as a broken heart or a migraine. Then the tide of pain receded slowly, heartbeat by heartbeat until it was gone.

It left Jace gasping on the bed, face buried into his pillow. He was so hard it was starting to become a persistent ache. His ass clenched and fluttered over nothing, seeking the memory of fingers.

Magnus was humming softly, still knuckle deep into Alec but he’d stopped his assault and was staying perfectly still. There were tears drying on Alec’s cheeks and his eyes were glassy and unfocused. 

“Breathe, my love, breathe. We can st—”

“Magnus, if you say we can stop, or anything that implies you’re not going to _fuck me_ properly, I will stab you myself,” Alec interrupted with a surprising amount of steel in his voice. He closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek against the pillow like a cat. Both of his hands were grasping Jace’s, just shy of too strongly.

Jace could not remember having moved his arm.

“I can do that.” Magnus looked at Jace with a slight tilt of his head. Jace could feel the weight of that gaze, analyzing, evaluation. His glamour was down and there were power and gravitas mixed with the heat in Magnus’ eyes. “How about you? Do you need to stop or can you take more?”

 _More?_ Jace thought, _There could be more?_ He wanted to ask, maybe to tap out. He wanted to come, to touch himself and relieve the tension in his cock and his balls. But the words died in his throat. Alec was _fine_ , Jace _should_ be able to handle whatever Magnus threw at him. It was just _sex_. 

“Bring it,” he said out loud with a practiced twitch of his lips and a wink. 

Magnus kept looking at him, seconds ticking by in a way that made Jace want to stiffen his spine and raise his chin for inspection. Until Alec wiggled impatiently. 

“Alright then,” Magnus said at last. “One last time. You’re doing amazing.” 

_Amazing_. Jace clung to the word as Magnus' fingers pulled out, replaced by the blunt pressure of his cock. He clung to the way Alec almost cooed as Magnus settled deeper within him, with small delicious rolls of his hips. He clung to the flutter in Magnus's eyes, the way they rolled towards the back of his head, showing that he was being affected for the first time. 

He gritted his teeth and held Alec's hand and faced the breaking dam within himself, the wave that was threatening to wash him away. He was being fucked, could feel the stretch deep within his gut. He was the one fucking Alec, warm pressure around his cock as lube eased his way. And he was, damningly, alone and on the outside watching in.

"You can come whenever you want, Alec," Magnus purred.

Alec nodded, rocking back against Magnus with his eyes closed. If he tried to speak it came out in broken phonemes and aborted sounds. Jace heard him clear, had no doubt Magnus did too. _Please_. _More. Don't stop_.

Not that Magnus gave any intention of stopping. Until he did, pulling out of Alec in a long slow drag that made Alec hitch with a whine caught at the back of his throat. Only to push at Alec with a strength he kept carefully disguised behind flourishes, brocade, and glitter. Magnus didn’t quite _manhandle_ Alec facedown on the bed — hips canted up just so — but it was crystal clear that he _could_. Memories rose to Jace’s mind. Alec’s memories, of sparring and being pinned on the ground. By Jace. By Magnus. By both and neither. And the secret shameful rush of helplessness.

The memories were driven out by Magnus pushing his way back into Alec like he belonged there. The new position gave him better leverage and pushed Alec into the mattress with each thrust, cock rubbing against the smooth coolness of silk. 

“Not… I'm gonna…” Alec slurred into the pillow.

“You don’t need to last, love. All I want now is to feel you. Can you come for me, Alexander?”

Skin gliding against sweat-slicked skin, the soft kiss of the fabric and the sheer mind-melting build-up of the edging caught up to Alec all at once. Jace had a second, maybe less to brace for it. To run and retreat into the smallest parts of himself, into the old ache of broken fingers and the pull of thin new skin. Losing himself in the agony of denial.

Reality came back in fragments, in a jumbled assault of his senses. First the musk and sandalwood smell of Magnus. The scent of his soap and shampoo as much a part of the warlock as the sweat and the bright electric ozone of his magic. Then the warmth of being held, pressure on Jace’s skin instead of transference ghosts. And the thumb running along his cheekbone and under his eye, smearing tacky wetness there. 

“I’m sorry,” Jace mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut. He didn’t want to see the disappointment on Magnus’s face.

“What on earth are you apologizing for, sweetheart?”

“Shouldn’t cry. Is probably a mood killer.” Jace tried to smile to soften the words but didn’t manage more than a slight twitch of his lips.

“Nonsense. You got overwhelmed, nothing to be ashamed of.”

“You don’t need to cover for me. I can take the punishment.”

Magnus’ heart skipped a beat as he tensed. Most people probably wouldn’t have noticed or flinched away from it. Jace drew himself further away from the bond, shutting it down as best he could. Not knowing what was coming might make it easier. For after. It was fine.

“And what would the punishment be, that you think you deserve?”

Jace was taken aback by the question. That had to be a trap. But he was tired in ways that had nothing to do with his body, for once, and if Magnus couldn’t tell when he lied Alec certainly could.

“Not getting to come?” he said at last. He hated how _small_ his voice was. 

“Why would you not get to come? You’ve been such a good boy for me, even if I most definitely pushed you more than I should have.”

Jace shrugged as an answer. He could point out half a dozen ways he’d failed or proven not good enough in the last five minutes.

“So,” Magnus continued, “if you’ve recovered sufficiently, how about that blowjob I promised you? You more than earned it.” Magnus waited for Jace to nod. 

Jace had some regrets as soon as he nodded. Magnus untangled himself from where he was holding Jace and slithered his way down, leaving a trail of gentle kisses along the way. Jace shivered in the sudden absence.

"That is so hot," Alec said from Jace's other side. 

He was crouching by the side of the bed, smiling freely in ways he so rarely did around the Institute. It took years off him and lit up the entire room. It looked good on him, along with the relaxed slope of his shoulders and the utter mess of his hair. There were hickeys and bite marks in reds and purples down his neck and along his collarbones, blending in with the shape of his deflect rune. He was sated, claimed, and happy in ways Jace had never seen him before. 

"Magnus is beautiful," Jace whispered in agreement.

"I’m talking about you, idiot. Do you have any idea how beautiful _you_ are?"

"I own a mirror."

Alec laughed. "And have you watched yourself like this? You look... debauched. Like all of my wet dreams rolled into one and... I’m about to get woken up." He sounded less certain with the last few words, with an edge of real fear. 

"It's real. I'm here." 

Jace wanted to say more, to reassure Alec that he wasn't going anywhere; not leaving, just needing a bit of space inside of his own head. But all of the words were driven out of him by the very skillful mouth of one Magnus Bane.

 _“Holy…”_ The word was punched out of him, brain overwhelmed and losing all grasp of language. There were things Magnus did that he didn’t know how to name or describe. It was lips and tongues and gentle fingertip touches and smooth, wet, heat as Magnus swallowed him down to the root.

“I know, right?” Alec smirked. “It’s pretty spectacular.” He reached to card his fingers through Jace’s hair, scratching at the scalp and pulling on a few strands. “You don’t have to hold back now, if you don’t want to.” Pausing, he added in a voice turned shy, “In fact, I would love to watch. Get to really _see you_.”

Maybe it was the hand in his hair. Maybe it was Alec’s words, dirty and wrong and good all in one. Or maybe it was the low humming Magnus had started with Jace’s cock deep in his throat that sent shockwaves up and down his spine. It was all of it and the build-up from the morning and all of the raw and hurt parts of himself wanting to be forgotten and paved over. Jace’s orgasm punched through him with a scream, pleasure racing down nerves from head to toes and to his fingertips and back until he collapsed bonelessly into the pillows.

Magnus crawled his way back up the bed and pulled Jace to himself like he was posing a life-sized ragdoll. Jace didn’t mind. It was soft and warm, and he felt thoroughly wrung out both physically and emotionally. Magic danced on his skin in shades of blue, joined by his own magic unbidden. The purple, gold, and blue danced around them until they were no longer gross and sticky. Jace hummed happily. He needed to figure out how to do this spell on his own. 

Water was running, somewhere in the loft. The sound echoed weirdly, unmuffled by any closed door. 

“Alec?” 

"He'll be right with us, don’t worry” Magnus murmured, snaking his leg around Jace’s to hold him closer. 

As if Jace knew how to do that, to quell the worries that rose through the haze of his mind. 

“Why shower?”

“Alec gets a bit overwhelmed, is all sweetheart. He likes to rinse off and get some space when it happens, instead of the magic.”

 _Oh._ That made a lot of sense, in hindsight. The running water shut off and was replaced by the sound of Alec’s bare feet on the floor, pattering closer.

“Plus, it makes the magic clean up feel special,” Alec said as he climbed into the bed and plastered himself against Jace’s back. He was wearing clothes now, some soft fabric pants and a tank top that usually lived in his training gear. Jace frowned at the distance created by the cotton, then it clicked into place. 

_Overwhelmed_ , Magnus had said. When skin to skin touches would feel like licks of fire down Alec’s nerves and he wanted nothing but being left alone. Jace was glad for the compromise of clothes. He wanted Alec to stay near. Pressed between him and Magnus, Jace slowly stretched sore muscles, finding the limits of his body anew. Ten fingers, two arms, two legs, one heart. _One heart,_ and not three.

They drifted like this until Jace grew restless and a loud rumble from Alec’s stomach announced it was late enough that they’d missed breakfast. 

“Can you sit up?” Magnus asked with a kiss to the top of Jace’s head. 

“Yeah. Whose turn is it to cook? Please don’t say Alec.” 

“Hey,” Alec answered, indignant. He let go of Jace as he shuffled on the bed, back against the headboard. 

Jace followed, keeping contact on his side, shoulder to hip and leaning slightly into Alec. There was still plenty of room to his left for Magnus. Has the bed always been _this_ large? 

“No, I have everything ready.” Magnus paused. “You — both of you — are going to have to stop your magic from following mine. You’re not quite yet ready for summonings.” 

“But you’ll teach us?” Jace asked. Why was he feeling so petulant? It wasn’t like him. 

“Of course I will, sweetheart. I will teach you _everything_ that I know. But we have time. We have _so much time_.” 

Magnus waved his hand over the bed and a wooden tray contraption appeared. It had legs and was clearly meant to be used in just this kind of breakfast-in-bed situation. However, it hovered above the cover on sparkling stills that sunk down to the mattress at odd angles. Magnus shrugged at the jointly raised eyebrows aimed his way. “There are usually fewer limbs involved.” 

With a snap of his fingers the tray was covered with a large plate of waffles, steam rising delicately from the dough. There were also bowls of berries and a decanter of juice as well as glasses and silverware. 

“You’re going to spoil us,” Alec said.

“I most certainly endeavour to do so,” Magnus answered with a wink. 

Now that food was there Jace realized he was ravenous. They ate in comfortable silence, forgoing knives and forks in favour of ripping pieces of waffles to wrap around fruits and licking the juices from their fingers. It was warm and tart and exactly what he hadn’t known he’d been craving. 

Jace moved one of the pillows at his back as he leaned away from the tray, leaving the last of the blackberries to Alec. He was full and comfortable and yet there was an itch under his skin. It was partly the sinful leisure, partly not knowing what was acceptable next. Even on his days off Jace was used to having tasks and routines, things to check-off, expectations to meet. He didn’t know what any of those were, here and now. 

“So, what’s next?” He asked when he felt like he was about to start twitching out of his skin. “You seem to have planned for everything.”

"Not _everything_." Magnus snapped away the tray and the crumbs as he stood up from the bed, stretching his legs. "Since both of you are awaited on duty tomorrow I did plan to have a day with my _boyfriends_ and none of us leaving the loft." He walked to the dresser and stopped. There was a tension across his shoulders that made Jace tense before Magnus turned back to come sit on the edge of the bed, facing him instead of to his side. "But first we need to talk."

Dread settled in Jace’s stomach like a leaden weight, heavier and more familiar than the extravagant food. He regretted eating now. Nausea was more easily contained when it was only bile and acid. He’d messed up. He’d tried his best and it wasn’t enough. The fact that Magnus was _kind_ was probably the worst of it. He could handle the pain if he didn’t expect the kindness.

An arm reached around his shoulder, dragging him against Alec’s side with even and steady pressure. Alec was making a point of taking deep slow breaths and after four repetitions Jace followed his lead. It helped. A bit.

Magnus reached to drop a tangle of his necklaces into Jace’s hand. The metal was slightly cold and it felt heavy in his fingers. Jace was grateful for the distraction. He focused his gaze on the chains and his own fingers so that he didn’t have to meet Magnus’ unglamoured eyes.

“First of all, and I should have led with this, you are not in any sort of trouble, sweetheart. But I need to know that you’re alright.”

“I’m _fine_.” 

“No, you’re not,” Magnus said with so much sadness in his voice that it felt like a physical weight stabbing Jace. “I know what I am asking is hard, Jace, because it makes you vulnerable. And no one likes being vulnerable. Or made to feel weak.”

Jace shrugged. That was stating the obvious and wasn’t really worth answering. There was a particularly gnarly kink in one of the chains that was refusing to unravel. 

“I’m the one at fault,” Magnus continued, “I pushed you too hard, too fast and past your limits, I know that. And I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t tell you to stop.” Jace mumbled, focused on his hands. 

“Did you want me to?”

Jace gave a half-nod half-shrug as an answer. Alec gave his shoulder a squeeze and dropped a kiss on the top of his head. Alec always knew when Jace needed comfort. 

“Why didn’t you? The last thing I want to do, ever, is hurt you. And now I’m in a situation where I have been made to do so…”

Jace took a deep breath.

In.

Out.

Turned his clumsy tongue around his mouth to try and shape the words. 

“Alec would have stabbed you,” he said at length. Trying for the slanted approach of humour. “Would have ruined the sheets.” 

The sudden hissed inhale through Alec’s teeth felt like a blow to the gut. Jace bowed his head, hunching his shoulders more. _Great_. Now he’d made Alec feel like shit too. It really was a hell of a talent he had.

“I’m so sorry,” Alec said. “Jace, I’m so sorry. I was joking, I would have been fine, I swear.” Alec pulled Jace into a proper hug, climbing with all his limbs octopus style. “Jace, _parabatai_ , please don’t shut me out, let me in. Please I’m so sorry, how do I fix this?” 

“I _had_ to,” Jace said into Alec’s shoulder. He dropped Magnus’ necklaces to grab Alec’s shirt instead, holding him close as he squeezed his eyes shut. “I had to shut you out because it was too much and I wanted to be _good_ and I couldn’t take it, couldn’t take it because you had each other and I couldn’t have anything and I was being left out and it _hurt_.” 

It felt better than he’d have guessed to get the words out, to admit to all of it and let the tears fall into the cotton of Alec’s shirt. He’d expected Alec, or Magnus, or both, to tell him he had read it all wrong. But Alec only held him tighter and Magnus joined the embrace until Jace was warm and held on all sides.

“Thank you for telling me,” Magnus said, once Jace’s shaking had stopped. “Now I know. And if we ever play with something like that I’ll plan accordingly.”

“I did like it,” Jace mumbled. “The… the ordering part. I liked it.”

“I know, sweetheart. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I remember you saying that to me, once,” Alec said with a smile.

“And I was right, wasn’t I?” Magnus dropped a kiss on each of their cheeks. His magic danced on Jace’s skin in the same soothing cleansing pattern as before. Jace followed it and very carefully mimicked it on Alec, cleaning away the tears and the snot. Magnus rewarded him with a large, delighted, smile. “Now that this is out of the way, how about we go to the next step of the plan?”

“Right,” Jace said. “You had a plan.” 

“Quite! First, pyjamas for you. I think we can find something in your size. And then I promised Alexander to complete his mundane movie education.”

“Oh yeah? What are we getting him down for?”

“We’re taking him to Middle Earth, for today.” 

“That sounds like fun.”

Jace had never formed much of an opinion of sleep clothes. He slept in his underwear, or naked, or in the clothes he’d been wearing with equal levels of deeply not caring most of the time. But Magnus pulled out pants and a long-sleeved shirt made of the softest material Jace had ever felt. If he’d told him it was woven from clouds Jace would have believed it. The sleeves were long enough to cover his hands, with carefully constructed holes for his thumbs.

The three of them piled on a couch suspiciously larger than it had been before, Magnus first, then Jace, then Alec. A large blanket appeared a few moments later to cover them all, settling heavily and perfectly over Jace’s limbs. It was warm and comfortable and loving and _perfect_.

Somewhere between the Shire and the woods of Lothlórien, Jace drifted off to sleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> Magnus handing Jace his necklaces to fidget with inspired by this [delightful fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28002852).


End file.
